• Title/Summary/Keyword: intonation patterns

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English Sounds to Japanese Ears

  • Yuichi Endo
    • Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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    • 2000.07a
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    • pp.47-58
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    • 2000
  • For the learners of English as a foreign language, oral repetition of model sentences is an e essential practice to improve their listening and speaking abilities of English. Skill training of both speech perception and production is involved in this practice. This paper reports on an observation of production e$\pi$ors in such practice made by Japanese college students in my class. The teaching material used is intended for acquainting the learners with basic English rhythm and intonation p patterns. The students were required to repeat each sentence in a series of conversations after a model reading. Although the vocabulary and expressions were rather limited, I monitored different kinds of errors in their repetition. Putting aside intonation, their difficulties are classified into five types; 1. Omission of words or morphemes, 2. Addition of unnecessary words or morphemes, 3. Replacement of words, 4. Japanization of English sounds, 5. Wrong rhythm caused by improper stress assignment. Accurate listening, especially to weakly stressed syllables and to assimilated sounds, as has often been pointed out, is the most difficult part in perception for them. Japanese sound system interferes in production of English sounds. More often than not their knowledge of grammar or the context does not work at all to guess the words they are hearing

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A Study on the Sentence Final Tonal Patterns and the Meaning of English Wh-Questions (영어 의문사 의문문의 문미 억양 실현 양상과 의미 해석에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Hwa-Young;Lee, Dong-Wha;Kim, Kee-Ho;Lee, Yong-Jae
    • Speech Sciences
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.319-338
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    • 2003
  • The aim of this paper is to examine the sentence final tonal patterns of English wh-questions through phonetic experiments, based on Intonational Phonology, and to explain the meaning of the final phrase tones of English wh-questions. Pierrehumbert and Hirschberg (1990) suggested that it is pitch accents rather than boundary tones which play a crucial role in the meaning of a sentence, and that most of the general questions have H-H% tonal patterns in the sentence final. However, they could not explain why wh-questions had final falling tonal patterns (L-L%). While Bartels (1999) suggested that L phrase tone has the meaning of 'ASSERTION' and it could be applied to the explanation of the meaning of wh-questions' final tonal patterns. However, her suggestions are only theoretical explanation without any experimental support. In this paper, based on Bartels (1999), the data was classified into the following three classes: 1) echo wh-questions, 2) reference questions, and 3) common wh-questions. Using this data, a production test by three English native speakers was conducted. The results show that reference questions and common wh-questions have L phrase tones in the sentence final at a high rate, and echo wh-questions have H phrase tones in the sentence final at a high rate.

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A Study on the Detection and the Correction of Prosodic Errors Produced by Chinese Korean-Learners (중국인 학습자들의 한국어 강세구 실현양상과 오류진단 및 교정방안 연구)

  • Yune, Young-Sook
    • Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.51-59
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    • 2012
  • The purpose of this study is to examine the pitch pattern of Korean accentual phrases produced by Chinese Korean-learners in the reading of a Korean text. Korean accentual phrase is determined by a specific F0 contour. And the pitch contour of APs differ depending on their length and the nature of initial segment. In order to examine if Chinese speakers are also aware such a phonetic properties, we have examined the AP pitch contours produced by 15 Chinese speakers differing in proficiency, and compared them to pitch contours produced by six Korean native speakers. The results show that Chinese speakers' pitch errors were observed in initial segment-tone interaction and in type of pitch patterns. However, even though Chines speakers produced the same type of pitch patterns, internal tonal modulation differs from native speakers. Finally, on the basis of theses results, we proposed a teaching method that visualizes the F0 contour.

Intonational Pattern Frequency of Seoul Korean and Its Implication to Word Segmentation

  • Kim, Sa-Hyang
    • Speech Sciences
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.21-30
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    • 2008
  • The current study investigated distributional properties of the Korean Accentual Phrase and their implication to word segmentation. The properties examined were the frequency of various AP tonal patterns, the types of tonal patterns that are imposed upon content words, and the average number and temporal location of content words within the AP. A total of 414 sentences from the Read speech corpus and the Radio corpus were used for the data analysis. The results showed that the 84% of the APs contained one content word, and that almost 90% of the content words are located in AP-initial position. When the AP-initial onset was not an aspirated or tense consonant, the most common AP patterns were LH, LHH, and LHLH (78%), and 88% of the multisyllabic content words start with a rising tone in AP-initial position. When the AP-initial onset was an aspirated or tense consonant, the most common AP patterns were HH, HHLH, and HHL (72%), and 74% of the multisyllabic content words start with a level H tone in AP-initial position. The data further showed that 84.1% of APs end with the final H tone. The findings provide valuable information about the prosodic pattern and structure of Korean APs, and account for the results of a previous study which showed that Korean listeners are sensitive to AP-initial rising and AP-final high tones (Kim, 2007). This is in line with other cross-linguistic research which has revealed the correlation between prosodic probability and speech processing strategy.

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Korean Speaker's Edge Tone Patterns of English Conjunctive Utterances (한국인 학습자의 영어 접속사 발화에 나타난 가장자리성조 패턴)

  • Lee, Joo-Kyeong
    • Speech Sciences
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.141-152
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    • 2005
  • This paper shows the tonal patterns of English conjunctive utterances produced by Korean speakers of English, presenting that Korean speakers realize either the H - phrase tone or the H% boundary tone at the phrase-final part of the conjunctive utterances. Based on Pierrehumbert & Hirschberg's (1990) claim that either H- or H% tone indicates that a phrase is related to the following one, Korean speakers seem to produce the satisfactory patterns of edge tones in conjunctive sentences. In the experiment, we made up conjunctive sentences including both coordinate conjunctions such as and, but, or, and so and subordinate conjunctions like if, when and though. We varied the stimuli according to the existence of a comma and the lengths of connecting words and phrases. We also divided the subjects into two levels of English proficiency based on their English written test scores to see if Korean speakers' performance ability of edge tones is related with their general competence of English. Results show that Korean speakers produced 84% of the H- phrase tone in intermediate phrases and H-L% and L-H% boundary tones in intonational phrases. Also, coordinate and subordinate conjunctions show little difference in their tonal contours, and the existence of a comma or the lengths of connecting words and phrases do not affect Korean speakers' production of the H- phrasal tone and the H% boundary tone. This may suggest that pitch accents, rather than edge tones, should be put more focus on in teaching English intonation in Korea as much work has already shown that Korean speakers have serious problem with producing pitch accents in speaking English.

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Tonal Characteristics Based on Intonation Pattern of the Korean Emotion Words (감정단어 발화 시 억양 패턴을 반영한 멜로디 특성)

  • Yi, Soo Yon;Oh, Jeahyuk;Chong, Hyun Ju
    • Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.67-83
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    • 2016
  • This study investigated the tonal characteristics in Korean emotion words by analyzing the pitch patterns transformed from word utterance. Participants were 30 women, ages 19-23. Each participant was instructed to talk about their emotional experiences using 4-syllable target words. A total of 180 utterances were analyzed in terms of the frequency of each syllable using the Praat. The data were transformed into meantones based on the semi-tone scale. When emotion words were used in the middle of a sentence, the pitch pattern was transformed to A3-A3-G3-G3 for '즐거워서(joyful)', C4-D4-B3-A3 for '행복해서(happy)', G3-A3-G3-G3 for '억울해서(resentful)', A3-A3-G3-A3 for '불안해서(anxious)', and C4-C4-A3-G3 for '침울해서(frustrated)'. When the emotion words were used at the end of a sentence, the pitch pattern was transformed to G4-G4-F4-F4 for '즐거워요(joyful)', D4-D4-A3-G3 for '행복해요(happy)', G3-G3-G3-A3 and F3-G3-E3-D3 for '억울해요(resentful)', A3-G3-F3-F3 for '불안해요(anxious)', and A3-A3-F3-F3 for '침울해요(frustrated)'. These results indicate the differences in pitch patterns depending on the conveyed emotions and the position of words in a sentence. This study presents the baseline data on the tonal characteristics of emotion words, thereby suggesting how pitch patterns could be utilized when creating a melody during songwriting for emotional expression.

The Phonetic Realization of intermediate phrase in French Intonation (프랑스어 억양구조에서 중간구의 음성적 실현 양상)

  • Yuh, Hea-Oak;Lee, Eun-Yung
    • Speech Sciences
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.185-200
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    • 2002
  • The current study confirmed the existence of an ip prosodic level in French intonation structure, as previously proposed by Sun-Ah Jun & $C\acute{e}cile$cile Fougeron (2000). However, in contrast to the previous suggestion of the plateau realized in an ip in several syntactic structures, the current study supposed that the plateau doesn't come from the different type of syntactic structures but arise from the unspecified syllables without any PA in an ip. Because if we limited ip phrasal tone to the syntactic structure, it would be difficult to find the more general reasons of ip level. Besides /Hi/ and /$H^*$/ we also used /$Hi^*$/ for the focused syllable in the current study. In emphasized sentences, in general, /$Hi^*$/ appeared in the first or second syllable of a leftward AP in an ip and /$H^*$/ in the final syllable of a rightmost AP of an ip, In contrast to these PAs, /$Hi^*$/ might appear in any syllable in an ip, but not to far from /$H^*$/ because the duration time and length t of plateau realized between /$Hi^*$/ and /$H^*$/ or /Hi/ and /$H^*$/ would make an essential harmonious rhythmic unit, Therefore, the current study determined the duration time and the number of syllables realized in each plateau in an ip level composed of more than one AP. As a phrase constituent structure, there is a practical need for intermediate prosodic units to allow for generalization over the many possible combinations of prosodic patterns that can occur. Further evidence is still needed to analyze and relate the different pitch ranges of the plateau of an ip according to the syntactic structure, to identify the considerable character in the French prosodic hierarchy.

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Acoustic Features of Oral Vowels in the Esophagus Speakers (식도음성의 모음종류에 따른 음향학적 특성)

  • Yun, Eunmi;Mok, Eunhee;Minh, Phan huu Ngoc;Hong, Kihwan
    • Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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    • v.7 no.4
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    • pp.85-92
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    • 2015
  • This study aimed to establish characteristics related to voice and speech through the natural base frequency analysis of esophagus vocalization. In the study, 8 subjects were selected for esophagus vocals, and 10 other subjects were selected for a control group. MDVP(Multi-dimensional Voice Program, Model 4800, USA, 2001), Multi Speech(Model 3700, Kaypantax, USA, 2008) were used as experiment equipment. The speech samples selected for evaluation were vowels and sentences (both declarative and interrogative). For acoustic analysis, the intonation form of fo, jitter, energy, shimmer, HNR, and intonation patterns of the speech sample were measured. The results were as follows: First, the natural intrinsic frequency of extended vowels in the esophagus vocal group was lower than the frequency in the normal vocal group. In particular, the intrinsic frequency difference for high vowel /i/ was much greater than the frequency difference for low vowel /a/. Second, the jitter values of the esophagus vocal group were higher than the control group. In particular, there was a large difference between the jitter values for /a/ and /i/, with the jitter values being highest for /i/. Third, there was no significant difference in vocal strength between the esophagus vocal patient group and the control group. Fourth, the shimmer values of the voices in the esophagus vocal group were higher than shimmer values in the control group. In particular, there was a large difference in shimmer values for low vowel /a/. Fifth, the HNR values of the esophagus vocal group were showed significantly lower than the control group. In particular, the largest difference in HNR values between the two groups was for high vowel /i/. Sixth, the pitch contours of interrogative and declarative sentences of the esophagus vocal patient group showed a different form or only had with small differences compared to the pitch contours of the normal vocal group, thus presenting an inconsistent pattern.

Realizations of Discourse Focus and Structure of Intonation in Japanese (일본어의 초점 실현과 인토네이션의 구조)

  • Choi, Young-Sook
    • Speech Sciences
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.187-200
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    • 2002
  • The purpose of the present study is to see in terms of $F_{0}$ variation in Japanese how discourse focus and the lexical word accent interact with each other in realizing overall intonation patterns. Discourse focus causes prosodic restructuring of phrase structures and, as a result, largely affects pitch contours, whereas the lexical word accent is said to delimit the $F_{0}$ into a certain range. Measurement of $F_{0}$ was made of utterances of Japanese sentences to observe behavior of pitch contours with varied focus assignment and lexical accent specifications. The utterances were obtained in question-answer discourse contexts so that in a sentence, either one NP was always focused or no focus was assigned. I set four points for $F_{0}$ measurement; $F_{1s},F_{1m}, F_{2s}$, and $F_{2m}$, two for each noun phrase corresponding to $F_{0}$ at the beginning of the first syllable and that of the vocalic portion of the second syllable in the two NP's. The results of present study were as follows: (1) for all combination of lexical accent types, the $F_{0}$ rise both in NP1 and NP2 are higher when focused than when not focused. (2) NP2 starts a new accentual phrase when focused, showing even higher $F_{0}$ than NP1, the latter of which implies that in forming a new accentual phrase by focusing, catathesis does not seem to take effect on NP2 preceded by accented NP1. (3) unfocused NP2 preceded by unaccented NP1 has higher $F_{0}$ than those preceded by accented NP1.

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An extraction of depth information in pattern using directions and slopes (방향과 경사도 분포를 이용한 패턴의 굴곡 성분 추출)

  • Jeon, H.J.;Cho, D.S.;Kim, B.C.
    • Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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    • 1992.07a
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    • pp.462-464
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    • 1992
  • In this paper, an extraction of depth intonation in pattern using neural network is presented. All the 3D images represent the depth information in grey pixels. This pixels which have analog values translated digital values. Because of the noise and distortion in pattern, we use the normalization in learning and recalling the patterns. Our method has eight direction vectors and slopes for pattern. Also, we use potential to obtain the mean slope and direction vectors of given 3D patches. The higher level of deduction finding the global depth information is also carried out by using neural network.

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